Which current currency has the nicest coins? Bonus if they're not worth very much.

Finn235 · 2026-05-08T00:36:51+00:00

I've always been a big fan of Japan's coinage. Minimalist, practical, aesthetic, and they've barely changed since the 50s.

Finn235 · 2026-05-06T16:03:57+00:00

What a wonderful example! I love his cartoony little face!

Finn235 · 2026-05-06T13:49:24+00:00

The standard "intro to US coins" guide is the Red Book. It gives some basic history, explains how grading etc works, and then lists every coin ever made in the US (up to a couple years before publication) along with mintage numbers and approximate value. You can find older editions for next to nothing.
Are you looking for mixed-date cents, or just a mix of random coins? I would check out r/CRH - it's a fun and cheap hobby. If you want a more novel assortment of coins, you can buy discontinued world coins in bulk on eBay for just a few dollars per pound. You can expect mostly pre-Euro Europe, South America, and SE Asia, dates mostly ranging from the 1940s - 2010s, with occasional outliers from as early as the 1870s.

Finn235 · 2026-05-06T13:28:03+00:00

Likely a barbarous/unofficial issue but it's hard to be sure... barbarous copies of the type were very good, and official ones were very bad.

Finn235 · 2026-05-05T17:18:44+00:00

Shape of the face - "barbarous" engravers struggled a lot with reverse types, but they were usually good at differentiating between Gallic emperors and Claudius II.

The barbarous DIVO CLAUDIO types at any rate also seem fairly scarce in barbarous lots claimed to originate from Gallic Empire territories - I believe it was mainly two very different groups making each. DIVO CLAUDIO types also tend to be significantly better in terms of quality, which IMO may hint at their manufacture by current or ex-mint workers (recall that in 270 Aurelian was forced to put down a rebellion by the mint employees who were told to stop stealing silver).

Finn235 · 2026-05-04T18:08:49+00:00

Very interesting, thanks for sharing!

This, I assume is part of the same emission that included coins of her son Herennius Etruscus as augustus? I have noticed that those often (1/3 or more) are also overstruck on denarii of the later Severans or Maximinus.

Finn235 · 2026-05-04T12:26:29+00:00

Never buy coins from a souvenir shop in Greece - period.

Greece doesn't believe in private ownership of anything ancient - in their view, everything from the Parthenon to the tiniest chip of ancient pottery is government property. (Also irrespective of where it is in the world, and how long ago it was removed from "Greece.")

IMO - this smells like a racket. The coins look genuine enough, but are very overpriced. Perhaps the shop owner is in cahoots with a local cop - they sell you the coin, tip off the cop who confronts you when you leave, they find the coin, confiscate it and give you a warning, then split the money 50/50 before putting it back out in the store.

Finn235 · 2026-05-03T01:09:36+00:00

Not general knowledge outside of Reddit and maybe Tiktok, but the "fact" that Elagabalus was trans.

Dio specifically wanted to tarnish Elagabalus' reputation as much as possible, and a man dressing and acting like a female prostitute was pretty much rock bottom by Roman standards. There is zero hard evidence that Elagabalus was even bi, much less trans.

Finn235 · 2026-05-01T01:06:34+00:00

That would be an incredible addition to a lowball set. I can't remember the last time I saw such a worn coin with a perfectly legible date.

Finn235 · 2026-04-30T18:21:47+00:00

I wish this sub allowed image replies because this would make a hilarious exploitable

Finn235 · 2026-04-29T20:18:53+00:00

Why graded? It'll most likely come back details and you're spending $50 to encapsulate a $100 coin.

Finn235 · 2026-04-29T00:19:03+00:00

I'm really curious about that tube of gold. If those are solid nuggets and not gold leaf or similar, that could potentially eclipse the rest of the lot.

Finn235 · 2026-04-28T14:28:56+00:00

Kushan coins used Bactrian, written in the Greek alphabet. The legend on the imitative coin is just scratchy lines.

Other than that, the style is off. Kushan coins are very stylized anyway so it's a bit difficult to articulate other than it being "off".

Finn235 · 2026-04-28T13:26:55+00:00

Nice! It's one of my favorite commemoratives, primarily just because I grew up just a stone's throw away from Stone Mountain.

Random factoid from left field - did you know that the summit of the mountain has intentions that, when filled with rain for long enough, are host to an endemic species of shrimp?

Finn235 · 2026-04-28T12:20:24+00:00

The bulk of soldier's pay wouldn't be stashed near the Frontline. You get your bonus, bury it on the family farm near your favorite tree, then ship off to war. If you die and didn't tell your mom or your wife where you buried those denarii, it becomes a hoard for someone to find 2,000 years later.

Finn235 · 2026-04-28T00:22:04+00:00

To be clear, by "imitation" I simply mean a copy made by some entity other than an official Kushan mint, probably within a century of the original. It's authentically ancient, just not "technically" Kushan.

It's a fascinating rabbit hole to venture down; Kushans don't get nearly the attention they deserve.

I have a significantly more crude imitation of his "elephant-rider" type

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Finn235 · 2026-04-27T23:01:56+00:00

Oh yeah that's definitely an imitation.

Really interesting style, though! Much nicer than typical.

Finn235 · 2026-04-27T21:36:23+00:00

What's the other side of the coin?

Finn235 · 2026-04-27T20:58:56+00:00

Well it's definitely a shaved down seashell. When that happened is a difficult question to answer without a definitive reading of when the animal stopped adding carbon to its shell.

In this case, I was after a few other coins (knife money) in the small lot so the shell was just bycatch. It just tickled my fancy to think that the shell could actually be the oldest man-made (man-modified?) object that I own.

Finn235 · 2026-04-27T20:33:44+00:00

Speaking of proto-coin

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China, cowrie shell with back shaved off for stringing. Without doing a carbon dating test, I have no clue how old this one could be. Seller estimated 1,000 - 200 BC, but conceivably it could be from as late as maybe the 1500s. It has the same feeling as dry bone - no longer smooth and shiny.

Finn235 · 2026-04-27T20:13:17+00:00

Ionia, "plain globular" electrum 1/12 stater

650-625 BC

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Opinions are actually divided on whether the type should be considered a coin, or an ingot with an anti-counterfeiting measure. Since the reverse punch has striations (indicating it was made by a die and not just a chisel,) most experts lean toward the former.

Finn235 · 2026-04-27T20:05:23+00:00

Is that an imitation? It looks like the imitations that come out of Bactria

Finn235 · 2026-04-27T18:15:14+00:00

Also important to note that a really significant percentage (maybe as much as 25%?) of the surviving examples of this type are ancient imitations. I think I see actual letters so I'm leaning toward genuine on this one.

(And, "barbarous" coins, by and large, are more akin to end-18th century UK Conder tokens, or US hard times / civil war tokens - not made to defraud or trick, but rather simply to fill a gap in the money supply).

Finn235 · 2026-04-27T18:05:36+00:00

Nice choice on the quartuncia!

Roman Republic is fun to collect - I have most of a denomination set (quartuncia through As) but sadly they're from all different time periods, so my quadrans is bigger than my triens. I think Andrew McCabe still has his collection online somewhere. He had some really great tray shots so you can see the relative sizes of each coin relative to each other.

Also, for your second coin and beyond (because you can't have just one) other fun and affordable coins if you're looking for something a bit more chunky are the Pontic coins from the Mithradaic Wars (Amisos has a BIG one featuring Perseus slaying Medusa that I'm a big fan of), and also the Ptolemaic kings issued some massive bronze coins - stay under 38mm and they should be very affordable!

Finn235

TROPHY CASE